


Just A White Blood Cell

by missred



Series: Being Human [1]
Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Other, Protective Venom Symbiote (Marvel), Sick Eddie Brock, Sickfic, how to be a good body-roommate to your alien
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-08-07 07:37:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16404101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missred/pseuds/missred
Summary: Eddie is used to all the downsides of being human. Venom is not.





	Just A White Blood Cell

It was strange how not-strange it was, being body-roommates with an alien. They got into a routine pretty quickly, working on whatever news job Eddie could get during the day and snacking on bad guys at night.

Eddie was bothered by that at first. The crunch of bones, the squishy visceral feeling of organs sliding down his--their--throat. Venom didn’t understand at all initially. He had no concept of why any of it would be upsetting to Eddie.

**It’s good. Makes us stronger** .

Eddie nodded to himself

“I know, V. Just.”

Flashes of memory, the sensation of  _ eating _ another person made their stomach turn.

**Humans are strange. It feels right when we eat. Only after** **_you_ ** **make us cringe. Too many emotions.”**

Eddie shrugged. 

“Side effect of being human. We’re not built to be cannibals.” Venom emerged, poking his head out and leaning in so he was inches away from Eddie’s face.

**_“We_ ** **are not human.”**

“Relax. **”** Eddie bumped his head affectionately against Venom’s. “I’m not trying to get rid of you. Just trying to explain.”

The next time they fed, it was different. Eddie was aware, like always, but venom didn’t bring him with him when he ate. He knew what was happening, but he didn’t have to feel it. It was easier that way.

“Thanks.” Eddie mumbled, feeling Venom retreat inside himself. He got waves of satisfaction, Ven was pleased with his meal. 

Inside his chest, Venom hummed.

* * *

Venom got bored sometimes, while Eddie worked. The endless sifting through sources and leads  didn’t hold his attention the way it did Eddie’s. The found that the best solution was Netflix. It kept Venom entertained and let Eddie focus, for the most part. After a few hours, Eddie slipped his laptop onto the coffee table and ambled into the kitchen to make lunch.

Venom stayed in the living room watching Santa Clara Diet, He let the tendril connecting him to Eddie float through the apartment like a strange umbilical cord.

Eddie was trying to open a packet of lunch meat when his hand slipped.

Venom was there in a half second, winding around Eddie and grabbing the knife before it dropped to the floor. 

**“EDDIE. Why did you hurt us?”**

“Accident.” Eddie muttered. “ _ Shit _ .”

He reaches for a dish towel and felt Venom moving through his arm to his bleeding palm.

“Leave it, Ven.”

Venom paused, perplexed.

**“We will fix it.”**

“I’m fine. Human accident, human healing. It’ll teach me to be more careful.”

Venom bled back into him, moodily.

**We feel the pain. But you don’t want us to fix it.**

“It’s barely a scratch, you’ll live.  _ We’ll _ live.” Eddie amended, feeling the symbiote’s extra annoyance at his choice of pronouns.

Venom was silent. Eddie rolled his eyes and headed down to Mrs. Chen’s to get some gauze.

* * *

Back in the apartment, Eddie bandaged their hand, assuring a still silent Venom it would be mostly fine in a few days.

Venom grumbled. 

**Days. And not even completely healed. Inefficient.**

Eddie sighed. 

“If we eat some chocolate will you stop pouting?”

Venom hissed at the accusation, but seemed mollified when Eddie dug through the cupboard and pulled out a half eaten kitkat. 

They fell asleep on the couch an hour later, kitkat long gone, t.v. playing in the background.

* * *

Eddie woke up feeling stiff and sore. He instantly regretted not sleeping in his own bed, however crappy the mattress may be. 

Inside him, Venom was pacing, slipping around his organs in a frantic state.

“Hey. Quit it.” Eddie poked his abdomen, where he felt Venom frantically sliding around. “You’re making us nauseous.”

**We are under attack.**

Eddie could feel Venom’s panic and their heart started racing in response. He stumbled off the couch and tried to look for a better vantage point to brace for someone slamming through their door. 

“ What?!” 

**Inside.**

Venom replied tersely.

**Inside us is under attack. Our reflexes are not working right. Our body is--not how it should be.**

Eddie paused, thought about the aches in his muscles and the burn he felt when he swallowed, and then he laughed out loud. 

“Oh, V. It’s fine, we’re fine, we’re just sick.”

**“This is NOT fine.”** Venom snarled, emerging from Eddie’s chest.

“It sucks, don’t get me wrong. But it happens. All the time actually. We’re not in danger.”

Venom growled.

**“We should go eat somebody. Then fix this “sick.”**

“We ate an entire person two days ago. We do not need to go out right now.”

Venom dissipated back under Eddie’s skin and continued his pacing. 

**Your lack of concern just shows you are stupid, Eddie.**

“Jeez, okay, I get it. You’re like a new mom.”

**You are not my offspring.**

He felt Venom shift, searching for the root of his comparison somewhere around his solar plexus.

“Moms with their first kid. They freak out over every scrape or sniffle, ‘cause it’s new and scary to see your kid get hurt. This is like, the first time you’ve been sick, so you’re a little on edge. Very on edge.”  Eddie added, feeling Venom continue a frantic patrol of his internal organs.

**What do humans do? When this** **_sickness_ ** **happens?** Venom asked, disgust coloring his tone. 

“Sleep it off. Take some medicine, go see a doctor if it’s really--”

**We will go see a doctor. Anne’s puny human. He will fix us. Or we will eat him.**

“Shit, Ven, it’s not like that. We probably just have a cold. Humans don’t go to the doctor for colds. And we're not _eating_ Dan.”

**WE WILL GO. THIS LEVEL OF IMPAIRED FUNCTIONING IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.**

Eddie reflexly covered his ears, even though this did nothing to quiet the voice in his head. Eddie didn’t really go to doctor’s usually. He was much more of the take two nyquil and sleep it off mentality. But he was feeling kind of awful, even without Venom’s nagging. And if it kept the peace between them, he figured he could get it over with.

He called the hospital where he’d met Dan before and waited to be transferred to the correct department while Venom pooled in the space between his lungs, listening intently. Dan answered the phone himself when the nurse told him who was calling, and Eddie made up some bullshit excuse about feeling a little off and  wanting to be sure there was nothing leftover from his parasite encounter.

Venom growled lowly at that but Eddie shushed him and Dan was totally understanding--of course he was--and told him he’d move things around so Eddie could come in tomorrow.

“There? Are you happy now?” Eddie asked as soon as he hung up the phone. 

Venom was quiet in his head, for once, but he seemed calmer. 

“I’ll take it.” Eddie sighed.

It really wasn’t going to be his day. His hand stung more than he thought it would. He wouldn’t ask Venom to heal it now though, after all the chiding he’d done the day before. He ambled to the fridge and grabbed some questionable wonton soup from the very back. His throat felt raw and sore, but the hot broth was nice. He tried to get some more work done but he was distracted by his own aches and pains and Venom’s particularly long silence. 

Around 7 p.m, Eddie headed up to bed, and the symbiote made no complaint about the early hour.

“You still kicking in there, champ?” Eddie questioned softly. Maybe he hadn’t been patient enough earlier.

**We are here. Always.**

“Thought you were ignoring me.” Eddie said, and then huffed a little as he eased into bed and all his muscles protested.

**It is..concerning to be in a damaged host and not be able to fix it.**

“I know buddy. Tomorrow we can get checked out, and we’ll be okay. Promise.” 

Eddie curled up under the covers and shivered, but a second later Venom was materializing, slipping around him like a second skin.

**Sleep, Eddie.**

Warm and content, they did.

**Author's Note:**

> When you want to read something really badly but it doesn't exist, so you have to write it yourself. I'm going somewhere I promise.


End file.
